The parents of Rhys Jones last night spoke of their devastation in losing their little “football fanatic”.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, his mother, Melanie Jones, 41, appealed to the public for help to catch the killers. “Our son was only 11, our baby,” she said. “This should not happen, this should not be going on. Please help us.”

Rhys’s father, Stephen, 44, said that his son knew nothing about gangs and that the horrific shooting was a family’s “worst nightmare”.

Mrs Jones described how she rushed to the scene on Wednesday evening but was unable to get any response from Rhys. “He was unconscious, he did not come around after that,” she said. “He was just lying there in a pool of blood. They put him in an ambulance. They tried for an hour and a half to resuscitate him but his little body could not take it, he had just lost too much blood.”

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BACKGROUND

• Factfile: teenagers gunned down across UK

• Three murders in four days in South London

• We Shall Overcome, protesters sing at peace vigil

Related Links

• Rhys Jones: a happy life cut short

• 'He fired more shots. He never flinched'

• Sharp rise in teens involved in gun crime

Mr Jones said: “Somebody out there knows who’s done it. People are saying to me, ‘Wrong time, wrong place’. It shouldn’t be a case of wrong time, wrong place. It shouldn’t happen in this country.”

He said that he was on his way to work when he got a telephone call from his wife saying that their son had been shot, and at first he assumed it was by a pellet gun.

“I turned around and got to Croxteth Park and there was police everywhere. I thought, ‘God, what’s happened here?’ I then got to Alder Hey and went into the major trauma room. There was my son lying on his back, bleeding, trying to be resuscitated by the doctors there. They did a fantastic job but he’s gone.

“We then got taken to the bereavement suite. You go to see him, you hold him and cuddle him. The guy’s only 11, he’s only 11.”

Mr Jones said that he went home and into Rhys’s room “where he should be, he should be asleep, open his wardrobe, his school uniform that we have bought for senior school. His pens and pencils, are there unopened. His calculator is there unopened, his shoes are still in the box, his trainers are still in the box. It’s just horrific, your worst nightmare. We are devastated, we have lost our world, the world has lost a good guy.”

Mr Jones said of his son: “He was football-mad, absolutely football-mad, a season ticket holder with me and his brother. We go to every home match and they looked forward to it. Football was his life. If he wasn’t watching it, he was playing it. If he wasn’t on the PC playing it, he was on the X-Box playing it. He saved his pocket money for his kit.”

His wife added that Rhys was “a good left-footer, not many of them around. He was fanatical about it. He was a very bright and sensible lad.”

Mr Jones said that he and his “devastated” elder son were undecided on whether to go to the next Everton home match. He said: “Rhys would have said, ‘Go.’ Football was everything to him, you go into his room and it’s a shrine.” However, Mrs Jones said: “I can’t sit next to an empty seat.”

Asked about Rhys and gangs, Mr Jones said: “The guy probably doesn’t know what a gang is, he’s never been in some sort of gang. He’s got his mates, he’s got the people who he hangs around with, he goes and plays football. He plays for Fir Tree, they train behind that pub. He was on his way back — he normally gets a lift.”

Mrs Jones added: “How would he know about that sort of thing? I was not aware of any guns on the estate. There are gangs of teenagers, but there are gangs of teenagers everywhere. He had a thing in school about guns. He was very aware of that, he was a very bright and sensible lad.

“We would just like to put an appeal out. Please, someone, somewhere must know who has done this. It’s got to be someone on the estate. Please come forward. Just give a name. Tell us, you don’t even have to tell the police. I just want them caught.”

Mr Jones said: “Whoever has done it, they just need to be caught. I would never ever want to put anyone through what I went through last night, walking into that trauma room, seeing my son in pools of blood, fighting for his life. It’s not real, it’s not on.”

Mrs Jones said: “My baby was only 11. He didn’t deserve this. Give yourself up.”

Mr Jones said: “I know people say they keep their kids in, they don’t let them out, but you should be able to let your kids out to play. Both Rhys and his brother, Owen, 17, observed a strict curfew to be in by 8 or 8.30pm and they always observed this.”

'The world has lost a good guy'

"We are devastated, we have lost our world, the world has lost a good guy. He was football-mad, a season ticket holder with me, his brother. We’d go to every home match. They looked forward to it. Football was his life. If he wasn’t watching it, he was playing it. He saved pocket money for his kit"
Stephen Jones

“They tried for an hour and a half to resuscitate him but his little body could not take it, he had lost too much blood”
Melanie Jones

“The people responsible will be tracked down . . . and will be punished”
Gordon Brown

“I am willing to consider anything that will get the information to put people away”
Jacqui Smith
Home Secretary

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